Tenth Day – in Florida, USA – Smile, You’re in Orlando!

It seems like a very long time since we left Canada, but we are now in Florida, USA – make no mistake, and not just because the whole system changed from metric to imperial. It was very clear that we were in the USA even before we left the airport and there was a poster for a website about remembering the American troops. USA is very patriotic, and it’s very different from Australia and Canada. Around Atlanta airport and Orlando airport, there are signs -- welcoming the troops home. But, not just because of the troops, USA is very patriotic – for example, the photo I took of the car next to us today --

It might be hard to see, but that is a patriotic car!

By the time we got to Orlando, it was in the afternoon and it took us a while to find our accommodation and what do you do when you don’t really have a full day but still have sometime to do something and you have some odds and ends to pick up? You find a Wal-Mart.

Wal-Mart is amazingly cheap, and we were able to stock-up on groceries for about half the price it would’ve cost in Australia but I don’t care much about that, not as much as Mum did. Dad was excited to have his hair cut, Jonathon just moaned the whole time that he was hungry and I wanted to cry because THESE awesome shoes…

… from Wal-Mart in Vancouver, were NOT available in Wal-Mart in Orlando. I was most devastated but shortly I got over that and started running around Wal-Mart, looking like an absolute freak – taking photos of things uniquely American to share with y’all (yeah that’s uniquely American too). So I hope someone appreciates it.

This will probably appeal mostly to my Australian friends, but some of my American friend’s may be interested to see what’s exciting for Australians, and stick around til the end if you want to see something that bugs me.

Cheez-Its! Just like in the movie and these ones are even more awesome because they are Toy Story 3!

Remember Goldfish crackers? The other thing I notice about USA is the many different varieties of the same sort of thing they have. Cheesey String! I don’t think I’d like it, because I don’t like American cheese but I think it’s pretty cool to actually see it exists.

Some of the different crisp varieties.

I don’t know if you’d ever get Marshmallow cereal in Australia – USA’s cereals are more unhealthy in general. Well who hasn’t heard of Twinkies and DingDongs? I never actually knew what they looked like or what they were but there is a reference to Twinkies in Grease.

Dr Pepper is not available in Australia, and I’ve never tried it. But I love the line from Glee, when Britney has terrible teeth: “I thought Dr Pepper was a real dentist”

  Fairly self-explanatory… REAL Popsicles and Fudgsicles!

Lastly, something that I saw today that was just incredible, but not really in a good way…

 

Unless you can’t tell by the redness and tackiness, this is all Valentines Day Merchandise. An entire aisle dedicated to the holiday. Now, like most of the single population in the world – I hate Valentines day. So I think it’s a waste of space that there is a whole aisle consumed by the junk, but what makes me laugh is that most of it is about $1.

“Honey, I love you. This is how much you’re worth to me.”

Mmm. That probably wouldn’t go down so well. Wal-Mart also sells Valentines Day Gift Cards. I think Wal-Mart is great, but there is a line and Valentines Day Gift Cards from Wal-Mart definitely cross it.

Tomorrow, Disneyworld awaits and Jonathon will finally, after 20 years of asking, get to go to Disneyworld.